Break No Bones by Kathy Reichs

Break No Bones is a book by Kathy Reichs, published in 2006 and featuring forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan.
A decomposing body is uncovered in a shallow grave off a lonely beach...
The skeleton is articulated, the bone fresh and the vertebrae still connected by soft tissue - it's a recent burial, and a case forensic anthropologist Dr. Temperance Brennan must take.
Dental remains and skeletal gender and race indicators suggest that the deceased is a middle-aged white male - but who was he? Why was he buried in a clandestine grave? And what does the unusual fracture of the sixth cervical vertebra signify? But just as Dr. Temperance Brennan is trying to piece together the evidence, another body is discovered. Tempe finds herself drawn deeper into a shocking and chilling investigation, set to challenge her entire view of humanity. ..
Temperance Daesee Brennan is a fictional character created by author Kathy Reichs, and is the hero of her crime novel series (which are usually referred to as the Temperance Brennan novels). She was introduced in Kathy Reichs' first novel, Déjà Dead, which was published in 1997. Like her creator, Brennan is a forensic anthropologist, who divides her time between work in North Carolina, and working in Montreal for the Laboratoire des Sciences Judiciaires et de Médecine Légale for the province of Quebec. (Summary by Wikipedia)